MirrorU

Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky | Soviet Union | 1975 | 1h 47m | Russian w/ English subtitles | Starring Margarita Terekhova, Filipp Yankovskiy, Nikolay Grinko, Anatoliy Solonitsyn, Ignat Daniltsev

In 20th-century Russia, a poet relives his past in the fading moments of consciousness. His memories unfold through vivid visions of childhood, wartime, and married life, blending personal moments with the broader sweep of Soviet history and the quiet beauty of everyday existence. Using a nonlinear structure rich with dreams and flashbacks, director Andrei Tarkovsky crafts a deeply personal meditation on war, memory, and time, drawing inspiration from his own experiences.

Join us on Sunday 25th May (3pm) for a screening introduced by Ally Pitts, host of A Russian & Soviet Movie Podcast (since 2017).

Reviews

‘Visually stunning, baffling and intensely personal, the result is also impossibly ambiguous – but stick with it. Cinema rarely gets this close to poetry in motion.’
★★★★
Jonathan Crocker, BBC

‘The Mirror deserves a big-screen viewing, with its smorgasbord of memories in dream, drama and newsreel form from the life of a dying poet.’
★★★★
Kate Muir, The Times

Sorry - you missed it!

We showed Mirror between May 25, 2025 and May 26, 2025.

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What else is on?

Today (Thursday 19th March)

18:00

Amakki 12A
+ Director Q&A
1h 44m | Amharic with English subtitles
In Ethiopia’s coffee-growing hills, two women share time together across a single day. This lyrical portrait of motherhood reveals hardship and the enduring bonds of love. Screening presented by Maona Art, followed by an in-person Q&A with the director.

Book here

20:45

If I Had Legs I'd Kick You 15
1h 53m
A house filling with water. A child who won’t get better. And a husband who’s never there. Rose Byrne delivers an Oscar-nominated performance as a mother whose world is unravelling in Mary Bronstein’s darkly comic portrait of modern womanhood.

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Tomorrow (Friday 20th March)

14:15

The Secret Agent 15
2h 41m | Portuguese w/ English subtitles
Carnival, communal resistance, political tensions, and a man's missing leg collide in Kleber Mendonça Filho’s slow-burning 1970s political thriller. The Oscar-nominated Wagner Moura stars in this gripping examination of Brazil’s turbulent past.

Book here

17:45

The Testament of Ann Lee 15
2h 17m
From poverty in England to revolutionary America, Ann Lee’s spiritual vision and utopian dreams shape the lives of a newly formed religious community. Mona Fastvold’s sweeping historical epic stars Amanda Seyfried as the founder of the Shaker Movement.

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20:45

Sirāt 15
1h 54m | Spanish, French & Arabic w/ English subtitles
Oliver Laxe’s intense, hallucinatory road movie follows a father and son through Morocco as they try to find a missing relative at various sprawling, illegal raves. Winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival 2025.

Book here


Plan your visit

Our beautiful art deco inspired auditorium can be found just off East Oxford's Cowley Road.We are open 7 days a week. We open the cinema and box office 30 minutes before the scheduled start time of each film, and the Box Office then closes 10 minutes after the film starts. We only show a few adverts – less than most cinemas – and we only play a couple of trailers, so please don’t be late as the film itself starts very close to the advertised time!